Keep Holding On
by luciebean
Summary: Ellis Shepherd is the daughter of Meredith Grey. Her world turns upside down when certain events start to happen that seem to parallel her mother.
1. Chapter 1

Ellis sat in the bathtub wondering how long she could hold her breath for today. Her record from last week was 2 minutes and 15 seconds. She thought that this week she would try for 3 minutes. Ellis took a deep breath and slowly sank into the warm water. She closed her eyes and began counting when she heard a knock at the door.

"Mom wants to know what you want for dinner. Bailey voted pizza, I voted she go up to Joe's and get us take out. What do you want?" Zola asked.

Ellis ignored her sister because whatever she wanted was not as important as beating her record. She continued to count. Not even 30 seconds later there was another knock.

"Ellis! I know you are in there! I know you don't like to be bothered when you're in the bathtub but it's already 7! Just tell us what your decision is so you don't keep mom waiting!"

Ellis continued to ignore the muffled yelling she heard coming out of her sister's mouth.

As more time passed with no more talking she figured Zola gave up and left the room. Then, she heard Zola yell impatiently again, "If you don't answer me in the next 30 seconds I'm coming in! This time the muffled yelling was louder.

Even though she had no idea what Zola was yelling about, that was the moment Ellis decided she needed to stop her little experiment. She did not want to get caught because she knew how overprotective her older sister was of her. Zola would accuse her of trying to drown herself.

Ellis quickly pulled herself up from under the water just as the door opened.

"Hey." Ellis said casually, as Zola rolled her eyes.

"What are you up to?" Zola asked suspiciously.

"Nothing..."

"Then why weren't you answering me?"

"I was deep in thought." Ellis lied.

Zola knew her little sister was up to something, but she decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Anyway, what do you want for dinner? Take out or pizza?"

"Pizza." With that, Zola nodded her head and exited the bathroom closing the door behind her.

Ellis sighed and thought to herself, That was a close one. I need to be more careful. That's the second time I've almost gotten caught. First by Bailey last week and now Zola.

Ellis finished up her bath and headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Everyone was sitting at the table. Paper plates were set out along with a few different sodas and water. Zola and Bailey were chatting away while her mother, Meredith, seemed distracted by her cell phone. Ellis sat down and joined them. A few moments later the doorbell rang. Meredith's youngest child, Ellis, stood up to go answer, but her mother beat her to it.

"I got it Ellis." Ellis nodded and sat back down. Meredith walked over to the front door expecting someone else other than who she saw.

 **Hi y'all thanks for reading! I means a lot to me you finished the first chapter! Please leave a comment and let me know how I can improve the story or any mistakes so I can fix them! I have two more chapters already written so if this goes well I will be posting them soon! thank you so much!**

 **-Lucie**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi y'all! This is the fixed version of chapter 2! If you already read chapter 2 I'm sorry and chapter 3 will be up very soon! theunnamedconspirator and my friend helped with a few things to help me make the story better! hope you enjoy the fixed version and hopefully it sounds better than the first one!**

"What are you doing here?" she asked wide eyed.

"I came to see you." he answered.

"You can't be here." Meredith whispered, as she stepped outside into cool spring air. She closed the door behind her.

"Meredith, we need to talk, you can't keep avoiding this."

"Alex, no! We are not going to talk about this! The kids will be devastated! They love you so much. You have always been there for them!" A single tear rolled down Meredith's face. "You've always been there for me too! Especially since Cristina left, and Derek died." More tears were streaming down her cheeks. "You are the one who convinced me to to come back to Seattle after I had Ellis. You were there for me after I got attacked by that patient. The point is, Alex, I can't do this without you. You can't leave. You are ALL I have left." Meredith was crying now and Alex pulled her into a hug.

Back in the kitchen, Zola and Bailey were still talking and Ellis was keeping to herself. Unlike Ellis, Zola and Bailey were much closer as siblings than they were to Ellis. Ellis tried to join in when she was younger, but because she was always "too little" to understand they wouldn't let her be apart of their conversation.

Ellis stood up and walked over to the front door wondering where her mother was at. _It doesn't take five minutes to pay the pizza man._ She thought to herself.

As she was walking over there she noticed the door was closed. She peered around the staircase and looked out the window of the front door. It was her Uncle Alex. He was hugging her mom. She watched as her mother let go and he wiped her face. _She must be crying. I wonder why?_ Ellis continued to watch them as their conversation seemed to grow more deep. She watched her mother break down into tears and crying on his shoulder to hitting him multiple times on the chest.

After several minutes Ellis couldn't take it anymore. She walked over to the front door and opened it. There were tears in the young girl's eyes.

Alex looked at her.

"Ellis?" He questioned.

"What is going on?" She asked.

"Nothing Ellis, go ahead and go back inside."

"No…" Ellis hesitated, "Something is going on. Why is mom crying and hitting you?"

Alex and Meredith exchanged a glance. "How much have you seen?" He asked her, as Meredith continued to face Alex, refusing to look at her daughter. She hated having her children see her like this.

"A lot…" Ellis wiped more tears off of her face. She loved her mom so much and her uncle she couldn't stand to see them fight.

"Might as well get it over with now…" Meredith whispered so quietly it was almost in audible. "Let's go inside."

The three of them entered the front door and walked back to the kitchen.

"Hey Alex I didn't know you were coming for dinner." Zola smiled.

"I didn't come for dinner, but if it is okay with your mother I will stay." Alex looked over at Meredith and she nodded her head. "I'm here because I need to talk to you guys about something." All three of the Shepherd children took a seat at the table. They could tell by the tone of his voice that this was very important. Then the doorbell rang again for the second time that night. Meredith quickly hurried out the kitchen and went to get the door. Back in the kitchen, Alex was trying to figure out a way the to tell them his big news.

"Well kids, I got a job offer to work on a project for stem cell research for babies and children."

"That's amazing! I'm so proud of you!" Zola beamed and stood up. She walked over to Alex and gave him a hug.

"The thing is...it is not located in Seattle. The project is over at Mass Gen. I am moving to Massachusetts."

"When do you leave?" Bailey inquired.

"My plane leaves tomorrow morning."

When Alex said those words Ellis' eyes started tear up.

"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you guys earlier."

"It's okay we understand. Our dad did that when he went to D.C. for his brain mapping project and mom and his relationship worked out fine." Zola chimed in.

"Oh yeah... dad..." Bailey sighed. "I miss him so much."

Ellis stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "YOU MISS HIM? I NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM!" She screamed and stormed out of the kitchen and ran up to her room. Ellis slammed the door shut. Alex was the closest thing she had to a dad so this just reminded her that her only male role model in her life was now going to be gone.

Meredith just got back inside the house with the pizza when she heard Ellis's door slam. She headed to the kitchen.

"I guess she didn't take the news too well?" Meredith inquired.

"Not at all…" Alex shook his head trying to keep Derek out of the conversation. He knows how sensitive Meredith get's when someone talks about her dead husband.

"You will still come visit right?" Zola asked.

"Of course, and we can skype too and maybe your mom with take

you guys to come see me!"

"That would be fun." Zola smiled.

As soon as dinner was finished and all cleaned up Meredith headed up stairs to go see Ellis and give her her dinner and make sure she was okay. Meredith closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. Ellis didn't say anything so she went ahead and slowly opened the door to her room. Ellis was laying on her bed facing away from the door. Meredith went and sat down on her bed next to her.

"Ellis, honey, I know Alex leaving is hard on you since he's always been there for you when I couldn't be, but this is a really good opportunity for him." Meredith tried to smile.

"Who is going to be there for me now mom?" Ellis questioned.

Meredith could tell that she had been crying by the shaking in Ellis' voice.

"Alex was there when all the kids made fun of me because I don't have a dad. He stood up for me, and he even missed out on a date with Jo to take to me the daddy daughter dance."

"I know Ellis, I am sorry." She kept trying to smile but a single tear still rolled down Meredith's face. Ellis sat up and turned toward her mother.

"I just don't know what I am going to do without him…" Ellis cried.

"We will get through this…" Meredith nodded through her tears. She grabbed her daughter and pulled her into a hug.

Downstairs, Bailey and Zola were still questioning Alex.

"So where will you be living?" Bailey asked.

"I will be living in an apartment just outside Boston."

"Are we just going to ignore what happened with Ellis?" Zola interrupted.

"Ellis does this all the time. She cries every time you mention dad and mom does the same thing. Why do you think she never got remarried?" Bailey countered at Zola.

"True…but something else is up with her." She said back

"What do you mean?"

"Today, when she was in the bathtub I was trying to talk to her and ask what she wanted for dinner and she didn't answer me, until I came into the bathroom."

Bailey's mouth dropped open. "The same thing happened to me last week!"

"Seriously!? I knew something was up." Zola shook her head."We should probably let mom know later just in case this is something serious..."

"Yeah we need to."

"What's going on with Ellis?" Alex asked.

The two explained what happened with Ellis to Alex, while upstairs Meredith was comforting her youngest child.

"Ellis look at me…" Meredith whispered. Ellis looked up at her mother. "It's going to be okay I promise. " she gently wiped away her daughter's tears off of her face. "I have to go say goodbye to Alex. If you need me I will be downstairs." Ellis nodded her head. Meredith got up off her daughter's bed and went back downstairs.

"Kids, say goodbye to Alex he has a long day tomorrow." Meredith said.

"Bye Alex, have a safe trip. You are going to be amazing at your new job!" Zola gave him a hug.

"Thank you Zola." Alex smiled.

"Have a safe flight. We'll talk soon." Bailey added.

"Yes we will Bailey. I am going to go say bye to Ellis now. I will call you guys as soon as I land!"

"Thanks Alex." Meredith said.

Alex headed up the stairs and knocked on Ellis' door and slowly opened it.

"Hey...I have to get going now…" He walked over to edge of her bed and sat on it. She sat up and looked him in the eye.

"You are breaking a promise! You never break promises!" Ellis barked.

"I'm so sorry Ellis...this job is really important to me, and someone else can take over for me. It's just a ceremony...It's not like I'm your dad, or your actual uncle." As soon as he said those words he regretted it.

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE MY DAD! I WANT MY ACTUAL DAD! But I can't have him can I? OH AND YOU ARE NOT MY UNCLE NOW? Maybe, I shouldn't have invited you to be my sponsor. Maybe I shouldn't brag about you at school and tell everyone I have the coolest uncle in the world!" Ellis threw her hands up into the air. "But forget it now! You are leaving! I just wanted you there because you helped me, and pushed me to do good in school so I could get into the school's future doctor program! You know how hard it is to get into that program? I am only going to be a sophomore! Most people who are accepted are going into their junior year! Also, they only accepted 15 kids this year! So this is just not another ceremony! And who is going to support me now? I have no one!"

"Your mother! Ellis you need to grow up a little bit! You don't need me for everything!"

"MY MOTHER? MY MOTHER? You honestly think she's going to push me? I don't think so."

Alex couldn't take it anymore. "ELLIS!"

"LEAVE, BYE, ENJOY YOUR NEW LIFE AWAY FROM ME! YOUR ANNOYING PRETEND NIECE! No wonder mom was hitting you! You know she thinks of you as a brother? A actual one! Not a pretend one! I bet you think of her as a pretend sister!" She buried herself in her pillow.

"Ellis I-" He tried to say.

"LEAVE MY ROOM NOW" Alex got up off of her bed,

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU MEANT ALEX!" At that moment Alex knew he had hurt Ellis. She never just called him by his first name.

"When you're ready to talk call me...Just remember I will always be here…" He sighed as he left the room and closed the door.

Ellis quickly grabbed a glass object off of her desk and threw it at door. It hit the door with a clashing sound and it shattered into a million tiny pieces. She knew Meredith wasn't going to be happy about that. It only made her more upset. She screamed "I HATE YOU!"

 **Thank y'all so much for reading and hope you liked this version better than the first one! Please leave a review for your comments, suggestions, or anything that needs to be fixed!**

 **-Lucie**


	3. Chapter 3

Meredith, Zola, and Bailey we sitting on the couch trying to ignore Ellis' screaming, but when they heard clashing noise of something breaking that was enough. Something was taken too far. They immediately stood up and looked up the stairs to find Alex bolting down them.

"I-I have to go now." Alex stammered. "Bye kids, and Meredith a word?" He gestured toward the door.

"What happened up there?" Meredith questioned, as she followed him out the front door to talk in private.

"Did you know Ellis made it into the future doctors program at the high school? They only accepted 15 people. 15 people Meredith."

"No." Meredith shook her head. "S-she didn't tell me…"

"I was suppose to be her sponsor at the ceremony and I obviously can't make it so YOU need to. Promise me you won't forget this time..."

Meredith could not believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. Alex never talked to her like that. She was also trying to think of a time she had forgotten about Ellis and she could not think of one, so she just stood there staring at him.

"And one more thing Mer…go talk to Ellis about Derek. She needs to know more about him. She has heard that he was a good man, but only knows the story of her father's death. That is why she wants to be trauma doctor to save lives of people so they don't end up like Derek did."

Tears started to fall slowly down Meredith's cheeks.

"I know it hurts to talk about Derek and that you miss him so much, but so does your daugher. Ellis deserves to get to know the man that her father was so she can be proud of him." With that, Alex walked down the porch steps to his car. "Goodbye Meredith, I will call you tomorrow. Let me know how things go with Ellis." He said and drove away.

Meredith just stood there staring until his car was completely out of sight. Then she broke down and fell to her knees slowly and started crying.

Zola and Bailey peered out the window of the front door and saw their mother on the ground. Her hands were covering her face and she was on her knees. They opened the door slowly and walked over to her.

"Come on mom…" Zola rubbed her back. "You need to come inside... it's chilly out here." Zola and Bailey helped her off the ground. They had no idea how long she had been on the porch alone.

As soon as they were in the house, Meredith went into the bathroom in her bedroom. She closed the door, locked it, and then looked in the mirror and started crying again.

While Meredith was trying to pull herself together in the bathroom Zola and Bailey went to check on Ellis. They quietly opened the door to her bedroom and found shattered glass all over the floor.

"Ellis?" Bailey whispered. "Are you okay?" There was no answer.

"Let me try." Zola pushed Bailey aside. "Hey Ellis…" The pair did not want to enter the room due to the glass everywhere. "She must be sleeping." Zola shrugged her shoulders she closed the door.

Zola and Bailey were on their way to their bedrooms to get ready for bed when they ran into their mother.

"Goodnight you two." She gave each of them a kiss on the head and tried to smile.

"Night mom!" Bailey smiled. "Love you!"

"Love you too Bails." Bailey turned around and went to his bedroom.

"Mom?" Zola asked.

"Yeah Zo?"

"I'm worried about Ellis…there is glass all over by her door and I think she's sleeping, but I wouldn't go in there…"

"Yeah, I need to go talk with her about a few things. This thing with Alex hit her a lot harder than I expected..."

"It is hard on you too mom…"

"It is, but don't worry about me. Okay?"

"Okay mom. Goodnight, I love you." Zola gave her mom a big hug.

"Love you too." Zola headed off to her room.

Meredith walked over to Ellis' room and opened the door.

"Oh my gosh…" Meredith gasped as she looked at the ground. Glass was everywhere. Whatever object Ellis threw had shattered into a million tiny pieces. She took a deep breath and went to get the proper supplies to clean up the mess. After Meredith cleaned it up, she walked over to Ellis' bed to see if she was actually sleeping.

"Hey El, it's me. You don't have to pretend your are sleeping." She whispered.

Ellis sat up and faced her mom. "Are you mad about the glass I'm sorry…" Her eyes were full of tears.

"No." Meredith shook her head. She wiped her daughters tears.

Ellis opened her arms and gave her mom a hug and laid back down. Meredith got up off of her bed and exited the room. She figured Ellis had enough for one day would just talk to her in the morning.

* * *

The next morning Ellis and Meredith were sitting in the living room on the couch.

"Why didn't you tell me you made it into the future doctor's program? Or that you even applied for it?" Meredith asked compassionately.

"Because me and Uncle Alex were going to surprise you. We were planning something special…" Ellis looked down. She figured Alex told her yesterday, so she wasn't going to ask how she knew there was no point.

"Alex told me I will be taking his place as your sponsor, so what do I need to do? And what day is the ceremony?"

"Next Friday, in the auditorium and be there by 1:30 and don't be late. Make sure you dress up." Ellis said sternly.

"Alright, I'll be there!"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

"Promise?" Ellis asked.

"I promise!" Meredith smiled and hugged Ellis. She smiled slightly realizing maybe her uncle was right maybe her mom will support her.

 **Sorry this was a shorter chapter and thanks for the couple reviews I got and the bunch of reads! It means so much! I'm hoping y'all aren't too disappointed with the story so far please hold on! More action next chapter! I promise!**

 **-Lucie**


	4. Chapter 4

The day of the ceremony finally arrived. Ellis was up bright and early at 5:00 to get ready. She put on her black dress. It was short sleeved and went just passed her knees and it flared at the bottom. She brushed out her long brown hair and put it in a black headband. Ellis slipped on her black flats and sat on the couch. She turned on the tv as she ate her cereal careful not to get any on her nice outfit. Meredith came down the stairs about to leave out the front door to go to work when she noticed Ellis was already to go.

"Wow someone is ready to go very early today!" She smiled.

"Yep! Its ceremony day! Don't forget 1:30 in the auditorium!"

"1:30 auditorium got it!"

"Bye mom see you later!"

"Bye Ellis, make sure Bailey doesn't miss the bus today!"

"I won't" Ellis giggled. "But can't Zola just take him if he misses the bus? She's home from college now!" Meredith slightly shook her head and laughed as she closed the front door.

Once the bus arrived at school, Ellis bolted off the bus and ran inside.

Ellis ran up the stairs to the future doctor teacher's room, Dr. Henry, to make sure they changed her sponsor's name. She knocked on his door.

"Hello Miss Ellis, what can I do for you this morning?" Dr. Henry smiled.

"I just wanted to make sure my sponsor's name was changed from Dr. Alex Karev to Dr. Meredith Grey."

"Meredith Grey? Grey as in Ellis Grey?" Dr. Henry questioned.

Ellis nodded. "That's my grandmother! I was named after her!"

"Oh really? Well I am going to double check and make sure that is changed and I will see you this afternoon!"

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Henry!" Ellis smiled and skipped to her first hour class.

The morning flew by fast for Ellis, before she knew it it was 12:30 and time for her to head down the the auditorium. When she got there she began to look for her mother, even though she had a feeling she wasn't going to be there yet.

Back at the hospital Meredith was scrubbing out of a surgery when the chief came in.

"Meredith, we need you now! One of your patients, Nellie Nelson, who had her appendix removed yesterday. Her wound is bleeding you need to go back in and fix the bleeder."

"Couldn't you get someone else to do it? I have to get to Ellis' ceremony."

"A giant trauma just came in and all my general surgeons are in trauma right now."

"But-"

"Meredith! You are the chief of general surgery! I need you to do this and she is YOUR patient now go in and fix her! It shouldn't take long. What time do you need to be at her ceremony?"

"1:30."

"You have a whole hour! It shouldn't take that long please Meredith…"

Meredith sighed. "Fine, bring them to this OR, get me a resident and an intern. I will find the bleed fix it and they will close."

"Okay Meredith thank you!" Chief Bailey said as she walked out of the OR, and Meredith scrubbed back in.

* * *

At 1:45 Ellis was still looking for her mother because she still wasn't there yet. She had already called her three times and no answer.

"Hi everyone, please lineup in alphabetical order with your sponsors. If they are not here yet let them know to meet you backstage!" Dr. Henry announced.

 _One more time..._ Ellis thought to herself as pulled out her cell phone and called her mom again before lining up.

* * *

At 1:45 Meredith was still in the OR trying to find the source of the bleed.

"Dammit!" Meredith screamed. She couldn't find where the bleed was coming from.

* * *

Ellis lined up at the back holding her card with the pronunciation of her name and her mother's name. It was now 2:00 and the ceremony was starting. Everyone's sponsors were there except hers.

"Hey Ellis where's your sponsor? Did your cool uncle bail on you? Is pediatric surgery more fun than you? Decide you weren't important enough?" Said the girl standing in front of Ellis. She smirked and then crossed her arms.

"Um, no. He's not my sponsor my mom is…he moved to Massachusetts." Ellis sighed, she didn't want to talk about Alex moving. He had only been gone for a week and she missed him terribly.

"He hates you so much, and is so sick of doing things for you he moved across the country?

"No! He moved for stem cell research program! Now please leave me alone." She gritted through her teeth.

"If your mom is your sponsor then where is she?"

"She's...coming." Ellis bit her lip, as a single tear shot down her face. It was cold. She wiped it away fast so the girl couldn't see that she had got to her.

"Mhm...I bet you $10 your mom won't show up."

"Just watch, my mom will show up! She promised!"

"Promised. What are we, 5?"

Ellis rolled her eyes and looked around for her mom. It was almost her turn to go up on stage.

* * *

"Found it!" Meredith yelled. She stopped the bleed and had the resident close up. She ran as fast as she could into the scrub room and scrubbed out. Meredith ripped off her mask and took off the ferry boat scrub cap and bounded down the hallway to get her bag and change clothes to get to Ellis' ceremony.

* * *

Ellis walked up onstage and handed her teacher her note card. "Ellis Shepherd, her sponsor is-" Dr. Henry looked up and noticed her mother wasn't there, so he quickly moved on to the next part. "She wants to be a trauma doctor, and the first sophomore to be accepted into this program, so please give her a round of applause!" Ellis stared out at the audience as they all clapped and cheered for her. She was hoping her mother was part of that crowd. Maybe she was just super late? She scanned the entire audience of about 30 people and she wasn't there.

* * *

When Meredith arrived at the school she parked and dashed into the auditorium. The decorations were being taken down and everyone was gone except Ellis. She was sitting on the stage. Meredith walked over to her. Ellis looked up.

"YOU PROMISED!" she screamed and shook her head. Hot tears began to fall. "YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD BE HERE!"

"Ellis, I'm so sorry. I had an emergency surgery and-" Ellis cut her mom off.

"I don't want to hear your excuses and you're sorry? Really? I don't believe you." And you say you are nothing like your mother, but you are EXACTLY like her. You said you would never forget the important things, yet this is the second most important thing in my life so far! You missed my fifth grade graduation! At least Alex was there for me! That's why I didn't ask you to be my sponsor! I don't trust you! At least I know Alex would have been here!" At that moment Meredith realized that that's what Alex was talking about her missing. How come she couldn't remember missing that?

"I will never forgive you for this! Ever! This is unforgivable!" Meredith looked at Ellis with her eyes wide and her mouth opened a little. She didn't expect those words to come out of Ellis' mouth. What she just told her hurt so much. It felt like someone just threw a brick at her.

"You cause me so much grief! I had to do this all on my own with you! And I am nothing like my mother! How dare you say that! These past 16 years have been very difficult without your father!" Meredith sighed. She missed her husband. This would be so much easier if he were here.

"16 years? I'm 15!" Ellis shook her head. "Is Derek even my father?"

Meredith's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe her own daughter just questioned who her father was.

"You know this Ellis! He died before you were born! It was so hard on me you don't understand! It still is! Ugh! Sometimes I wish you were never born!" Meredith was so upset that she didn't realize what she was saying.

"Well you make it sound like I'm the worst thing that ever happened to you! If you regret and hate me so much that I don't have to exist to you anymore. I am going to go live with Uncle Alex!" Ellis barked.

At this point in the conversation Ellis was crying. "I WISH YOU WEREN'T MY MOTHER!

Meredith stepped back in shock then tried to put her hand on Ellis' shoulder. "Ellis…wait…I'm sorry…"

Ellis jerked her shoulder back. She hopped off the stage and ran as fast as she could out of the auditorium. "I HATE YOU MEREDITH! I HATE YOU!"

 **I'm really proud of this chapter! I hope y'all enjoyed it! :) thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Let me know what y'all think of the story so far! Reviews let me know your thoughts!**

 **until next time,**

 **Lucie :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Ellis swung the front door of her house open. She threw it so hard it hit the wall, bounced back shut. Zola and Bailey came out of their rooms and watched her bound up the stairs.

"Ellis is everything-" Bailey was cut off.

"Shut up! Why do you care?" She pushed him out of the way and went to her room, the door slammed shut.

Zola and Bailey walked over to Ellis' room. "Hey Ellis...what's going on? You know you can tell us anything." Zola talked to the door. Inside the room Ellis was packing her stuff. As soon as she heard Zola trying to talk to her she turned up her music so loud her siblings couldn't think straight. Then Zola felt her pocket vibrate. Her phone flashed "Mom."

"HELLO?" Zola shouted trying to hear herself over the music.

"What's going on?" Meredith questioned.

"WHAT?"

"I said what's going on?" She said a little louder.

"HOLD ON. I CAN'T HEAR YOU." Zola yelled

"WHO IS IT?" Bailey yelled to his sister.

"MOM."

Meredith wasn't sure what was going on over at her house, but it didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was if Ellis was safe.

Zola and Bailey went outside to talk to their mom on the phone where it was quiet.

"Hi sorry mom. What's up?"

"Is Ellis home?" Meredith panicked.

"Yeah. She is but-."

Meredith sighed with relief cutting off her oldest daughter. "Make sure she stays there please don't let her leave the house. I will be home in less than 5 minutes."

"Okay, but why?"

"That's not important. Just don't let her leave!" With that Meredith hung up.

Back upstairs Ellis finished packing her things and was carrying a giant duffle bag around her shoulder. She watched as Zola and Bailey walked over to the front door and crossed their arms. When Ellis arrived at the bottom of the staircase she glared at them.

"Move."

"Nope, you're not going anywhere." Bailey said.

"You are going to move or I am going to tell mom you skipped school the other day and didn't just 'miss the bus.'" Bailey stepped away from the door.

"Now, Zola please move. I have places to go."

"You're not going anywhere. Mom said you have to stay here."

"Oh. Mom said this mom said that." Ellis said in a mocking voice. "Who cares!"

"This isn't like you Ellis…"

"Like what? I-I have to go. NOW MOVE!"

"NO!" Zola stood her ground.

Ellis went over into the kitchen and grabbed the picture of her mom, dad, and baby Zola. She took it out of the frame and walked over to Zola.

"If you don't move it shred this into a million tiny pieces!"

"Don't you dare! You know how much that pictures means to me and mom!"

"I don't care about what mom thinks! Now move or this picture gets ripped!"

"NO ELLIS what in the world has gotten into you? You are usually such a kind and sweet girl."

"Well people change!"

"People just don't change! Just give me the picture and nobody gets hurt…" Zola inched closer to her trying to grab the picture, but Ellis quickly moved it away before she could get to it."

"Girls" Bailey mumbled and shook his head and walked over to Ellis and tried to rip the picture out of her hands, as soon as Bailey tried to take it she moved it slicing his palm open.

"Ouch Ellis! What the hell?" Bailey screeched. He looked at his right hand and blood oozed out slowly. Nothing a band-aid couldn't fix but still he screamed, "You cut me!"

"That was your own fault for trying to grab the picture! Just tell Zola to move and I'll give it back!"

"Zola please just move…" Bailey whispered.

"No Bailey! I can't give up that easily!" Zola yelled back. "You know how much mom would break if she ripped that up! I swear she would go insane! You know how much she loved dad! We can't let her do this!"

Bailey sighed, "Ellis come here, and bring the picture…" He walked into the kitchen and Ellis followed. When they entered the kitchen Ellis put the picture on the counter and crossed her arms.

"I have no idea what it going on with you right now Ellis, but one thing is for sure you cannot I repeat CANNOT rip that picture. You will RUIN mom. I swear if you rip it Zola will NEVER talk to you again and mom well you might just kill her!"

"Do you think I'm stupid Bailey? I wasn't actually going to rip it I'm using it as bait to get her to move!" Ellis retorted.

"Well you sure seem angry enough to rip it so…"

"So you're siding with mom and Zola here I see how it is."

"Come on don't be that way…" Ellis ignored her brother, sighed, and decided to put the picture back in its frame. She had just thought of a way to get Zola to move.

Ellis walked back into the foyer area where her sister guarded the door. Zola sighed with relief when she saw that Ellis was carrying the picture frame and the picture safely inside.

"Just give it here…" Zola said. She inched closer to her sister and stuck her hand out. Ellis looked her sister in the eyes

"You actually think I'm just going to give it to you? You have to move away from the door first."

"Not gonna happen little sis."

"Ugh" Ellis sighed. It was only a matter of time before her mom was going to be home and she had to get out of there or she wouldn't be able to go anywhere. There was only one thing that could possibly get her sister away from the door; to throw the picture frame and smash it. She didn't want to do it, but it was her only hope.

"Zola, I love you and I'm sorry." Ellis' voice was soft.

"Thank you." Zola smiled and walked toward her sister to give her a hug.

As soon as the door was clear Ellis closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I am so sorry…" She smashed the picture frame to the ground. The glass flew everywhere and Ellis booked for the door.

Zola tried to run towards Ellis. "OWW!" She screamed as a giant piece of the broken glass stabbed her foot.

"I'm sorry!" Ellis shouted as she ran toward a black car and hopped in. Then the car drove away leaving Zola and Bailey to pick up the pieces.

 **I hope y'all enjoyed that chapter sorry it took a little longer to update my friend edits it and then I have to go back and fix and then she double checks it! thanks for your follows, favorites, reads, and reviews! It means so much! As always please let me know if there is any mistakes!**

 **thanks,Lucie**


	6. Chapter 6

About 5 minutes later their mom pulled up in the driveway and bolted through the front door.

"What the hell happened in here?" She took notice of Bailey and Zola's injuries. She shook her head. "We'll talk in a minute. Ellis? Ellis!" Meredith ran up to Ellis' room. "Where is she?" When she wasn't in her room, she continued to search the house for Ellis. "YOU SAID SHE WAS HERE!" Meredith screamed.

"She _was_ here…" Zola frowned.

"WAS!? I TOLD YOU TO MAKE SURE SHE STAYED HERE!"

"We tried-" Bailey was cut off by his mom.

"TRIED? WELL YOU OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH DID YOU?" She glanced at her two children and saw one had a bandaid on his palm and the other was holding her foot. "Oh…"

"Mom we really did try…" Bailey said.

"I know Bails. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to yell I'm having a rough day...h-how did this even happen? But first we need to take care of your foot Zola to make sure you got all glass out and that you don't need stitches and then-" Zola interrupted her mother.

"Mom, I'm fine. I got it all out. It didn't go in that far."

Meredith sighed with relief and sat down on the stairs while Bailey and Zola recalled the events that happened moments before she had arrived home. A few tears fell down her cheek, but she quickly wiped them away. Now was not time for a meltdown.

"We have to call her friends, call her- Alex call Alex! She mentioned wanting to live with him...but she doesn't have that much money… I'm gonna go check the hospital, you two check the park... Someone picked her up right? Because I didn't see her walking down the street. When did you say she left? Her bike it still here...what color was the car? Did she mention where she was going? I noticed her room was a complete mess and her duffle bag was missing-" Meredith rambled.

"Mom! Mom!" Zola grabbed her and looked her in the eyes. "Calm down. We will find her. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any details because Bailey was in the kitchen taking care of his cut, while I was picking up the glass."

"No! No!" Meredith broke free of Zola's grip. "You can't tell me that you don't know anything!"

"She just kept saying she had places to go! "Wait…" Zola changed topics. "Why wasn't she with you? Wasn't her ceremony today?"

"Nevermind why she wasn't with me! Just I need to go find her NOW! Call me if you know anything." Meredith shook her head. She grabbed her bag and dug for her keys. "Where are my keys?" She began to cry.

"They are right here." Zola said in a soft voice. She picked up the keys off the side table and handed them to her."

"Thank you." Meredith wiped a tear and bolted back out the front door.

* * *

Ellis turned around to look out the back window the car.

"You seem nervous...everything okay?" The girl sitting in the passenger seat turned her head toward Ellis.

"Yeah... Yeah..." she shook her head fast, she had been in a daze. "Everything's fine."

"If you are anything like your mother the word fine doesn't mean you are actually fine." The driver of the car laughed.

"Haha very funny Dr. Kepner." Ellis said sarcastically.

The car became quiet for a few moments until the April broke the silence.

"So are you girls excited for the party tonight?"

"Hell yeah!" They said in unison.

"I am so excited!" Squealed Harriet.

Ellis composed herself quickly and looked at Harriet in the eyes. "Harriet. This is our first big high school party. This is like… a right of passage. We need to be mature about this." She said seriously.

Harriet nodded. "You're right, you're right."

The two girls stared at each other in complete silence for three seconds before they burst out laughing.

"Who am I kidding, let's have some fun!" Ellis yelled.

* * *

Meredith searched up and down Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital looking for her daughter, but she was nowhere in sight. She scurried through the hallways and was not paying attention and ran right into Miranda Bailey. Her files went flying.

"Grey! Watch where you're going!" Bailey yelled.

"S-sorry Dr. Bailey." Meredith stuttered.

"Everything alright?" She asked in a more calm voice.

"I-I'm looking for Ellis have you seen her?"

"No...I haven't seen her around today. I thought she was at the ceremony- Meredith Grey don't you tell me that you missed that little girl's ceremony! Don't TELL me that you missed it-"

"Dr. Bailey! Meredith interrupted. This is not the time to be yelling at me for a mistake I made that is not surgery related! And I only missed because YOU made me stay and fix Nellie's bleed, which was not an easy fix by the way. It took me forever to find the source of it and when I did it was too late! Now if you'll excuse me I NEED to find my daughter!" Meredith tried to fight her tears, but she failed and began to cry.

"Oh Meredith…you should have paged me if you didn't find it by the time you had to go." Bailey rubbed her back and Meredith began to cry harder. She felt a guilt and anger running through her veins. "We are going to find her she couldn't have gone far. Now wipe those tears! And get moving to find your daughter! And when you do...you better make it up to her!"

 _I don't see how I can make this up…_ Meredith thought and just nodded her head. "If you see her-"

"Meredith GO! I will page you if I find her!" Meredith ran off as Dr. Bailey picked up her files.

* * *

Back at the Shepherd house Bailey and Zola were having no luck in finding their sister.

"Let's go through the list again. I can't think of anyone we are missing..." Zola racked her brain.

"HARRIET!" Bailey shouted. "We didn't call her!"

"Oh my gosh you're right! Call her! NOW!"

Bailey fumbled through his pockets and grabbed his phone and dialed Harriet's number.

* * *

"It's Bailey!" Harriet screamed.

"Where!?" Ellis hit the floor and rolled underneath Harriet's bed.

Harriet rolled her eyes. "He's calling me, he's not actually here."

"Then answer it! And do what we talked about!" Ellis said quickly and she crawled out from underneath Harriet's bed.

"Hello?" Harriet answered.

"Hey Harriet is Ellis with you?"

"No, I haven't seen her since 5th period why?"

"Because she ran off and we can't find her. Do you know where she is?"

"No, I'm not sure. Did you check the hospital? I know that she enjoy's watching surgeries in the OR gallery. She also likes the swings at the local park."

"We tried the park she wasn't there and our mom is checking the hospital. We have been looking for over an hour...Would you mind calling her maybe she will answer and talk to you?"

"Yeah I could try…"

"Thanks so much Harriet! If she answers will you call us?"

"Of course! But I gotta go now, so I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, thanks again." Bailey hung up.

Ellis and Harriet sighed in relief.

"That was a close one." Harriet let out another sigh of relief.

* * *

"So?" Zola asked.

"Nothing…" Bailey sighed.

"What are we gonna do?" Zola panicked.

"I don't know…." Bailey shook his head.

Both of them fell onto the couch and sighed.

Zola jumped right back up. "I can't think like this. Maybe… maybe if I write down the list we made that will help!" She ran to get a pad and paper and came back and started scribbling all over it.

Bailey shook his head. "We went over the list a million times…"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO BAILEY?! I CAN'T JUST SIT HERE AND WAIT FOR A MIRACLE TO APPEAR!"

"Well there has to be something better we can do!"

Zola crossed her arms. "Oh really? What is it then?" She asked mockingly.

"I… I… I don't know…"

 **Hey y'all sorry this is the real update my friend had helped me fix a few things in chapter one! Hope y'all enjoyed it! please leave a review if you feel like it! I really appreciate them! Also thanks again for the follows, favorites and reads everything counts!**

 **-Lucie**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"What do you think of this one?" Harriet stepped out of her closet wearing a hot pink crop top and a tight blue pair of jeans.

"Wow." Ellis breathed. "You look amazing Harriet!"

"You really think so?" Harriet blushed.

"Yeah! Now it's my turn!" Ellis grabbed some clothes from her suitcase and went into her friend's closet. She emerged wearing a black top and black leggings with black combat boots.

"Oooh girl!" Harriet squealed. "I think we are already to party!" Harriet put on a jacket to cover up her crop top. She didn't want her mom knowing she was wearing in fear she might make her change.

The two girls grabbed their bags and headed to the kitchen.

"How do we look?" Harriet asked her mom.

"You two look beautiful. Are you ready to go?"

"YES! I mean-yeah."

* * *

When they pulled up to the party strobe lights were flashing and music was blasting. It looked like there were over 200 people there.

"Wow…" Harriet gasped.

"Let's go!" Ellis grabbed her wrist and yanked her out of the car. "Thanks for the ride Dr. Kepner!" Ellis smiled.

"I'll be back at 12:00. Have fun girls!

"We will!" Ellis shut the door of the car and the two girls ran toward the open garage. They entered the door into a sea of balloons. "This is so cool!" Harriet squealed.

"Sh! Remember! Play it cool!" Ellis spoke softly and Harriet nodded her head.

"So what do you want to do first?" Harriet smiled. "Go swimming, eat, dance, jump on the trampoline, talk to boys?" She nudged Ellis with her elbow.

"First, come with me." Ellis dragged her off to the nearest bathroom and closed and locked the door. She took off her bag and pulled out a box hot pink hair dye, a bottle of bleach, and two pairs of rubber gloves.

"Oh no...Ellis what are you doing?"

"Dying my hair what does it look like?"

"Um...I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"You know because your mom always says you look like your dad and-"

"I don't care!" Ellis was mad now. "And don't mention my mother again tonight! She's the main reason I'm dying my hair."

"You are doing this because of your mom?"

"Yeah why does it even matter?"

"You know parents make mistakes-"

"Ha! You call this a mistake? It's called bad parenting! Now are you going to help me or not?"

Harriet sighed. "I guess."

"Okay good because the faster we get this done the faster we can go meet some boys!"

Harriet smiled slightly. She was excited about getting back to the party but was nervous about what her friend had in store for the rest of the night.

* * *

Meredith found her way to an empty on-call room and called up Zola and Bailey to see if they had any luck finding Ellis.

"Did you find Ellis?" Zola asked eagerly.

"No." Meredith let out a sigh. "I was hoping you had some answers for me or at least some sort of clue." They had been searching for Ellis for at least two hours.

"We checked every place we could think of that Ellis likes. We even went to the library and the medical research center." Zola sighed.

"Think, you two, think! Did she mention something earlier this week about going somewhere today? Maybe it wasn't just the spur of a moment thing?"

Zola and Bailey sat in silence for a couple moments.

"A PARTY!" Zola yelled and stood up. She mentioned a party earlier this week! She said her and Harriet were going to a party!"

"Oh my gosh! I'm going to call April and find out the address and you guys go and get her!" Meredith voice was filled with hope.

"But-" Zola interrupted.

"But what?" Meredith questioned.

"We called Harriet and she said that Ellis wasn't with her... She had no idea where she was." She said.

"No!" Meredith placed her hand on her head. "Did you call Alex? What did he say?"

"He said he had no idea. He called her several times but she didn't answer."

Zola then turned towards Bailey who was waving at her frantically.

"What?" She mouthed.

"Hang up the phone!" He mouthed back.

"We have keep thinking and searching-" Meredith pager cut her off. "I have to go. It's Nellie. Call Harriet again, call Ellis again, text her I-I just don't know."

"Uh… okay mom I got it we'll keep searching bye!" Zola said frantically then hung up.

"What?!" She snapped at Bailey.

"Come on, are you honestly going to trust Harriet?"

Zola gave him a confused look. "Yeah?"

Bailey lowered his voice. "I think Harriet just covered for Ellis."

Zola's eyes widened. "What are we standing around here for, let's go!"

Zola grabbed her keys off the dish by the front door and dragged Bailey out to their car.

* * *

"There!" Ellis smiled and looked in the mirror. "All done! And it looks great!" Harriet peered behind her also looking in the mirror and nodded her head in agreement. They cleaned up the bathroom as best as they could and left.

"SO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO FIRST?" Harriet yelled over the booming music.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?"

"EAT SOMETHING AND TALK TO BOYS!"

"OKAY LET' DO THAT FIRST THEN."

* * *

Zola pulled the car up alongside a curb close by to the party house.

"Let's go in find Ellis, and get out of here!" Zola said. The pair entered the party and Bailey went straight to the food. "What are you doing?" Zola asked in a quiet voice.

"Getting food! Mom forgot to feed us...again!"

"No not now Bailey! We need to find Ellis!" Zola retorted.

"We need to blend in!" He gritted through his teeth so no one could hear them. "So get some food with me and we will look around and talk and pretend like we are part of this party!"

Zola opened her mouth to argue but her brother's plan was actually very good.

* * *

Harriet squealed as she saw a tall blonde boy.

"What is it Harriet?"

"A boy…I bet he's cute and he's not talking to anyone…" She bit her lip nervously.

"Go talk to him!" Ellis gave her friend a shove forward not sure where the boy was that she was talking about.

Harriet walked over to the refreshments table where he was standing and started to pour herself some punch. She turned to look at him.

"Hi…" she smiled nervously and giggled a little. For some reason he looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on where she knew him from...gym class maybe? Or Chemistry?

"Hi." Said the boy he did not look at her. Harriet took note that he was more interested in looking around the party, probably scoping for someone hotter, but she continued to talk to him.

"I'm Harriet." She stuck out her hand and the boy turned to face her.

"Harriet!?" There was shock in his voice.

"Bailey!?" Harriet turned around and gagged. She couldn't believe she was flirting with her best friend's older brother.

"Where's Ellis?" He asked sternly.

"W-w-what do you mean? There was shaking in Harriet's voice.

"I know she is here with you! Now where is she?"

"I-I don't know!"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean I don't know! I came over here to flirt-" Harriet gagged again. "With you thinking you were somebody else and she's off who knows where. She has been acting really strange lately…"

"Yeah I know! Especially today…" Bailey added.

"Yeah. But you know she doesn't want to see or talk to you so since you know she's safe with me now you might want to leave before she sees you."

"I need to talk to her and see her myself and she is coming home with us."

"What do you mean us? I'm not leaving and either is Ellis we just got here! Can you just give us until midnight and she's all yours."

"I was talking about me and Zola. Speaking of Zola..Bailey looked around the room and she was nowhere in sight."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know! I don't even know where Ellis is. I am going to find her. See you later." She walked away.

"Harriet! Harriet!" Bailey called, but she ignored him.

* * *

 _Where did Bailey go?_ Zola thought to herself and shrugged her shoulders just as her phone vibrated.

Bailey: Hey just saw Harriet she don't no where Ellis is but she's gonna look for her but Ellis is here

Zola: Good follow Harriet. I can't seem to find her anywhere outside or in the basement

Bailey: no I haven't looked very much. I'm gonna go dance now

Zola: What? No stop getting distracted

Bailey: I'm gonna DANCE meaning look in the crowd. Maybe you should go jump on the trampoline lol.

Zola: Oh, lol I'll be outside if you need me.

Bailey: K

* * *

Bailey pushed his way through the dancing circle looking for Ellis. He yelled her name. "Ellis? Ellis!" Trying to see if she was in the circle. She might not respond verbally, but she would most likely look around like anyone does when their name is called.

Ellis stopped dancing and looked to see who had called her name. She didn't see anyone and went back to dancing. Bailey saw someone he did not recognize stop dancing. _Maybe there is someone else named Ellis here_ thought Bailey. He turned around to walk away when he realized something. Girl with pink hair...all black...that's his mother as a teenager. He remembered the stories she used to tell. That's Ellis! He turned back around, but she was now gone. "Shit!" muttered Bailey under his breath. He pulled out his phone to text Zola again.

Bailey: PINK HAIR!

Zola: What?

Bailey: ELLIS HAS PINK HAIR LOOK 4 A GIRL WITH PINK HAIR!

Zola: Oh my mom's not gonna be happy...

Bailey: I know! She's wearing all black too

Zola: Thx I'll look

* * *

Bailey was headed toward the basement when he thought he saw Ellis at the refreshments table.

"Ellis!" He called to make sure it was her. She turned around and there was Bailey standing there.

"Son of a bitch!" Ellis went to run but Bailey grabbed her. "What the hell are you doing here!?" She struggled to get out of his tight hug.

"Coming to take you home! Mom is worried sick about you!"

"I don't care what mom thinks!"

Zola walked through the glass sliding doors from the backyard and saw Bailey holding on to Ellis.

"Oh my gosh Ellis...What did you do to your hair?"

"I dyed it what does it look like? And can you tell Bailey to let go of me? I'm trying to enjoy myself here!"

"Put her down…" Zola sighed. She noticed people starting to stare.

"WHAT? WE found her!" Bailey argued.

"People are staring!" She gritted through her teeth, but Bailey continued to argue.

"If I put her down she's gonna run."

"Just do it."

Bailey lowered Ellis to the ground and she went to run but Zola stopped her.

"No! Stop!" Zola grabbed her.

"NO!" Ellis screamed and broke free of Zola and booked it toward the backyard exit, but turned around to look at them. "Give me until midnight and I will be at Harriet's house. Tell mom AT MIDNIGHT you found me. If you tell mom I am here right now I will personally kick both of your assess and make sure Bailey doesn't go ANYWHERE until the end of his senior year and Zola I don't know yet...but I will figure something out!" With that she opened the door, walked out and slammed it shut.

 **wow that was a long chapter! Sorry for the delay! Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think! As always if there are any mistakes please let me know! Thanks again for all the reads, follows, favorites and reviews!**

 **until next time,**

 **Lucie**


	8. Chapter 8

When Ellis arrived outside there was the girl from the ceremony standing by the pool.

"Oh gosh…" Ellis rolled her eyes as the girl approached

"Wow Ellis you are a lot more badass than I thought you were. Sneaking out of your house and not caring what your mom thinks. Dying your hair without approval. Looks like maybe you aren't so bad after all. Maybe we can be friends?"

"First of all, I didn't sneak out, my mom just forgets stuff easily..." Ellis voice trailed off.

"Just like she forgot about the ceremony today? I bet she has alzheimer's." The girl rolled her eyes and laughed with her friends.

"That-That's not funny! And can we not talk about my mom?"

"Aw poor Ellis has mommy issues." She fake pouted.

"Shut up Brittany! So what if I do? I'm sure you get mad at your mom too!"

"What about your dad? Did he leave you as a baby or something because you never talk about him or does he not exist? Was it a one night stand?"

"OH! THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT!" Ellis balled up her fists and charged towards Brittany, but somebody grabbed her from behind.

"Ellis no! Don't even try! She will take you down and you know it!"

"Aww Ellis' little friend is here to back her up."

"Let me go Harriet! I can handle her myself!" Ellis fought and broke loose of her grip.

"So this is your bully?" Harriet asked Ellis who didn't respond. She took a step toward Brittany. "Leave Ellis alone okay? She has been through more than any of you have!"

"Yeah like what?" One of Brittany's friends chimed in.

Ellis' eyes widened and she shook her head profusely.

"More than you can ever imagine!"

"So spill! Tell us!" Brittany yelled. People started to stare.

"If you say anything Harriet so help me-" Harriet cut her off.

"Her-her mom forgets about her a lot!" Brittany and her friends laughed and tears formed in Ellis' eyes.

"Tell us something we don't know!"

Ellis was done she couldn't take it anymore and she went right up to Brittany and screamed in her face. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Brittany rolled her eyes pushed Ellis into the pool.

* * *

Back inside Zola and Bailey were talking about what they wanted to do about Ellis.

"I think we should leave her be." Bailey said

"But what do we tell mom? Oh we found her but we can't tell you?"

"We can stay here?"

"No we can't then Ellis will get mad if she sees us."

"Yeah, but what do we do?"

"We tell mom she wasn't here and at midnight we will pretend to get a call from her. Then we tell mom she's at Harriet's and we go and get her!"

"It can't be that simple…"

"It just is! Now let's go before Ellis sees we are still here."

The two walked out of the house and drove to the were hoping their plan would work.

* * *

When Zola and Bailey arrived at the hospital they ran into Dr. Bailey.

"Hey Dr. B, have you seen our mom?" Bailey asked the doctor he was named after.

"Not since earlier today, I think she's in surgery with Nellie again...poor girl only 23 years old…" Dr. Bailey shook her head. "Any word on Ellis? I heard she ran off…"

"No we still haven't found her yet...we were just going to tell mom that maybe we should give her some space for an hour or two. She was really upset earlier today and I think us calling her and texting her a lot is bothering her...I think all she wants is a little space...and if we wait maybe she will come back?" Zola tried to explain.

"Hmm…" Dr. Bailey thought. "I don't think your mother is going to like your plan very much…"

"We have to at least try...and with mom in surgery it buys us some time to give Ellis space!" Bailey chimed in.

Miranda Bailey thought about it for a moment before it really clicked.

"Hold up. You are just going to let that young girl run off on her own like that?!"

"Yeah I guess...she can't be that far...can she?" Bailey questioned.

"Nuh uh, I don't want to hear it!" She stepped towards Bailey and shoved him backwards a little. "You are going to find your sister," She shoved him back again, "and you are going to bring her straight back home!"

"Y-y-yes m-maam." Bailey stuttered.

* * *

Back at the party Ellis was still under the water after two minutes. Nobody seemed to be worried or care except Harriet. She quickly kicked off her shoes and jumped in, clothes and all, to make sure Ellis was okay and not drowning. She found her at the bottom of the pool holding her breath. Harriet swam over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Ellis pushed her feet off the ground and swam to the top and Harriet followed her. As soon as Ellis reached the top she took a giant breath and Harriet did the same.

"Somebody-" Ellis took a breath. "Touched me!"

"That was me Ellis, I was worried about you...I wanted to make sure you didn't drown."

"I CAN swim you know!"

"Yeah I know it was just you didn't come up and-"

"AND? I almost beat my record and wanted to keep going no thanks to you I couldn't beat it!" Ellis shoved Harriet off of her and went to the edge of the pool and climbed out.

"I don't need to be rescued by you or anyone! So-so just leave me alone Harriet! Now I'm going to go straighten things out with little Brittany bitch over there and you go do whatever and I'll see you at midnight!" Ellis stormed off a leaving Harriet alone and soaking wet.

"Hey Harriet!" someone called from behind. She turned around to see who it was.

"Oh hey Josh!" She smiled slightly.

"I saw your friend ditched you over there not very nice huh?"

"Yeah..she's going through a rough time right now…"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, but since you're all alone now I was wondering if you wanted to come hang out with me and some of my friends. I'll introduce you to them they are really nice!"

"Sure, I would love to meet them."

"This way!" He said and started walking and Harriet followed and looked back one last time just to make sure Ellis wasn't coming back for her.

Ellis was walking in circles outside looking for Brittany. She had some unfinished business to take care of with her. She finally saw her back over by the pool again.

"Oh look who rose from the dead!" Brittany said snobbishly.

"I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to notice I was gone." Ellis said. "To see if you cared."

"Well I don't."

Ellis rolled her eyes. "You know what it's people like you that make the world a terrible place! Picking on people because you have nothing better to do! It's annoying and I'm not gonna let you do this to me anymore!" She stepped up closer to Brittany. "SO BACK OFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE! IT IS NOT MY FAULT MY MOTHER FORGETS ME! IT IS NOT MY FAULT I DON'T HAVE A DAD AND IT IS CERTAINLY NOT MY FAULT THAT YOU ARE JEALOUS OF ME!" Ellis was yelling, but she was also crying at the same time. She had never stood up to a bully before.

"I am not jealous of a loser like you!"

"I know you are because I'm the first sophomore to make it into the future doctors program at school, and when you tried to get in last year you didn't make it!"

Brittany's mouth dropped and she scrunched up her face. Ellis had just pulled the last straw she couldn't think of any words to say but couldn't let Ellis win. So she did the only thing she could think of. She used her full force and shoved Ellis back into the pool.

* * *

Meredith was scrubbing out of her surgery when two of her children barged through the scrub door to OR 5. Zola and Bailey started talking very fast at the same time.

"Ellis! We don't know-" Zola started.

"Dr. B says we should keep-" Bailey continued

"Where she is-"

"Looking, but I think-"

"Wait you two! Stop! STOP TALKING!" Meredith yelled and children stopped. "Did you find Ellis?" This time her voice was calm.

"No." Zola and Bailey said in unison.

"Then what are you doing here!?"

"I think she needs space…" Zola said looking at the ground afraid of her mother's reaction.

"No! You said she was at that party! She wasn't there?"

"Nope…" Bailey lied.

Meredith dried off her hands. "Go back to that party! She has to be there! Ask everyone! Once you have done that then come talk to me! Until you find her-" Meredith stopped herself from saying something she would regret. She took a deep breath and looked her children dead in the eyes. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Please don't give up..if it was either of you two I wouldn't be giving up. So please, please go back to the party." Meredith begged. "I'm going to go talk to April...maybe she knows something that we don't. I will give you both one hour to find her, and if you don't-" She gulped. "I'm going to have to call in a missing person's report…" Meredith bit her lip nervously hoping that she wouldn't need to do that.

They nodded their heads and their mother walked passed them out door.

"We need to go get Ellis now…" Zola said sternly to her brother.

"But-" Bailey protested

"No. No more space she's had at least thirty minutes of peace and you know what Dr. Bailey is going to do if she finds us still here?"

"Oh yeah...let's get out of here!"

 **Thank you so much for reading and staying with me so far! Reviews are very helpful if you would like to leave one! Also if there is a mistake please let me know! Thanks for all the reads, favorites, follows, and reviews! We are just getting close to the main story line and I am very excited! hope y'all are too! :) by the way school starts Monday for me so updates will be slower! Sorry!**

 **-Lucie**


	9. Chapter 9

**The end has been changed to this chapter. This was the original ending, but my friend said I should change it to other ending. I hope y'all like this ending better...updates are going to be super slow by the way sorry :( ending meaning end of the chapter.**

Chapter 9

As soon as Zola and Bailey arrived back at the party they darted into the house.

"Hi" Bailey introduced himself to a boy about his age. "Have you seen a girl with pink hair around here? Wearing all black? Somewhat tall, but tiny frame?"

"No sorry dude."

"Have you seen Ellis?" Zola asked a short girl.

"Who?"

"Pink hair, all black clothes…"

"Nope sorry."

They asked over a dozen people, but nobody seemed to know where she was. They checked every room and asked every person they ran into, but no one had seen her for quite some time.

"Maybe they left? I'll text Harriet." Bailey said

Bailey: Hey did you leave the party?

Harriet: no y?

Bailey: We cant find Ellis is she with u?

Harriet: no

Bailey: Where r u?

Harriet: outside by the bonfire

Bailey: Dont move

Harriet: k…

The pair raced outside towards Harriet who was dripping with water.

"Why are you soaking wet Harriet?" Bailey asked.

"Ellis."

"Where?" Zola asked.

"No no...Ellis is the reason I'm soaking wet."

Zola and Bailey looked at Harriet confused. Harriet sighed.

"It''s a long story." She explained what happened with Brittany and Ellis in the pool. All the sudden everything clicked. Zola and Bailey exchanged a glance.

"THAT'S WHAT ELLIS HAS BEEN DOING IN THE BATHTUB!" They said in unison.

"Holding her breath?" Harriet asked confused.

The two nodded their head.

"But I don't see what this has to do with anything. Anyway Ellis told me to leave her alone for the rest of the night and then she walked away to go find Brittany, and that's the last time I saw her."

"What does Brittany look like?" Zola asked.

"She looks like your stereotypical "mean girl," She quoted the air, "blonde hair, pink tight dress, black heels...um blue eyes I think."

"Oh I know her!" Bailey nodded. "She's hot." Zola slapped him on the back of the head.

"Focus!"

"I can find her." Bailey said. "Let's go. Thanks for you help Harriet."

"No problem...let me know when you find her."

* * *

Meredith was checking on one of her patients when her pager went off 911. It was Nellie again.

"Dammit!" She raced to Nellie's room. Her wound wasn't bleeding, but she was having a seizure. She lowered her bed and held her down while a nurse gave Nellie a shot of Epinephrine. Once Nellie's seizure had stopped, she paged an intern to go run a CT and page neuro. Meredith needed a consult hopefully this would solve the problem.

* * *

"That's her!" Bailey pointed toward Brittany.

"Oh my gosh…" Zola rolled her eyes. She _was_ the typical looking mean girl.

Bailey's face lit up. "Wow she is even hotter tonight."

Zola elbowed Bailey in the ribs.

"Ow." Bailey said under his breath.

Zola and Bailey walked up toward her.

"Where is Ellis?" Zola asked angrily.

"How am I supposed to know?" Brittany snapped back.

"Harriet said Ellis was coming to talk to you when she last saw her a while ago."

"Well I haven't seen her for a long time either! She probably left. She's such a baby." Brittany rolled her eyes.

"H-hey! That's my sister you're talking about! And... she may cry a lot, but she's not a baby. That's how she lets go of her pain! So I know you're hot but will you lay off the name calling? She deserves better." Bailey stood up for Ellis and they walked away.

* * *

"The Head CT shows that she has a glioma. To put it simply she has a tumor in her brain. That is why she was having a seizure." The on-call neuro doctor stated.

"I know what that is- Wait. A glioma?" Meredith gulped.

"Yes, I'm not sure it's operable…it's only been done once"

"Let me see those scans." The doctor gave them to Meredith.

"Oh my gosh…" Meredith started to tear up as she started at the scans. The tumor was located in the same area Beth's was back when her and Derek did the clinical trial. "This is operable. I can take it out."

* * *

Zola and Bailey were heading back into the party, and about to give up hope when they each decided to ask one more person.

"Excuse me?" Bailey asked a tall dark haired boy, he looked like the jock type.

"What?" He asked rudely.

"Have you seen my sister Ellis? Hot pink hair, wearing all black?"

"Did you say hot, man?" He slurred. He stumbled towards Bailey, his can of beer sloshing around in his hand, and managed to spill it all over Bailey's shoes.

Bailey jumped back annoyed. "Dude no! I'm looking for her she could be in trouble!"

"Man, how about we look for her together? And then we can both get some. You know what I mean?" The jock elbowed Bailey repeatedly.

"No, you know what? Never mind." Bailey turned around and walked away. He suddenly got pulled back by his elbow and hit the ground. Then, he sat up and turned toward the person. It was the jock.

"Dude! I just wanted to have some fun, what's your problem?" He yelled.

Bailey got back on his feet, and held his hands up in defense. "Nothing man, I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just looking for my sister, okay?"

The jock shoved him backwards. "Maybe I wanted to help you find her!" He shoved him again. "Maybe I actually felt bad. Now I don't!" He shoved him backwards one more time and Bailey hit a tree.

The jock put up his fist to punch him and Bailey shielded his eyes ready to never see the light of day, but nothing hit him.

He lowered his hands and realized that a few other teenagers held back the jock trying to calm him down. Bailey could tell the jock was screaming but none of the words made sense to him. Suddenly, Zola pushed through the crowd that formed around the two of them.

"That's my brother over there LET ME THROUGH!" Once Zola reached Bailey she yelled, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR FIVE MINUTES AND YOU GET INTO A FIGHT? WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING FOR OUR LITTLE SISTER." She pulled him up almost dislocating his shoulder.

"Zola! It was a misunderstanding! He was trying to fight me!"

"I don't wanna hear any of your crap! Come on, let's go!" She started to drag her brother away from the tree fiercely.

As they were about to enter the house they noticed a girl was staring at them.

"Hey, let's ask her." Bailey pointed toward the girl.

Zola sighed. "Okay...one more person, but that's it, and if you try to flirt with her-"

"I won't! I seriously think she knows something! Otherwise why would she be staring at us?"

"You make a point." Zola nodded, and Bailey grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the girl.

"Hi, have you seen a girl with hot pink hair around here lately? We can't seem to find her." Zola tried to stay calm. She was tired of asking and not getting any answers.

The girl nodded her head.

"You have? Thank you so much!" Bailey squealed and hugged the girl tightly.

"Where is she?" Zola asked. The girl pointed toward the pool, and they looked at her confused. "What do you mean? Where exactly is Ellis?"

"Brittany pushed her into the pool again...and she hasn't come up for air yet..."

Zola and Bailey looked at each other wide eyed. Bailey kicked off his shoes and plunged into the water.

 **Sorry had to fix a few mistakes and I finally figured out how to separate the sections so it's not all run together and makes more sense! Thanks so much for your patience! I love y'all so much! Thanks again for all the reads, follows, favorites and reviews! If you feel like leaving a review they mean a lot to me! :)**

 **-Lucie**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am soooo soo sorry y'all for the wait! I hope this chapter was worth it! enjoy :)**

"April! April!" Meredith ran as fast as she could down the hallway, and April turned around.

"Hey Meredith! What's going on?" She said in her perkiest voice.

"Where is Ellis?" Meredith said sternly.

"With Harriet...at the party..." April was confused why Meredith was asking because her and Jackson were the ones who convinced her to let Harriet go.

"Yeah, I know that. But apparently she is not there! SO WHERE IS SHE?"

"I-I don't know then. I-I dropped them off and left..." April's voice started shaking.

"Give me the address." Meredith gritted her teeth

She quickly grabbed a prescription pad from her pocket and scribbled it down and handed it to Meredith.

"IF SHE ISN'T THERE I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" She screamed and turned around and starting running in the opposite direction, when her phone vibrated. She angrily grabbed it out of her pocket. It was a text from Zola.

Zola: We found Ellis...we will see you at the hospital…

Meredith sighed with relief, turned back around, and walked toward April, who was still standing there in shock.

"They found Ellis. They are on there way here now. And don't you DARE ever take my daughter again without permission from me first!" Meredith barked and started walking away and April followed.

"I'm so sorry she's gonna be fine right? They found her so she is going to be okay! You're not super mad at me right I mean technically this wasn't my fault I really hope Ellis is alright she was just at a party? What harm can a party do? I mean besides like rape and drugs and I'm-I'm sure Ellis knows better not drink at parties and take drinks from people she doesn't know she's a smart girl I mean she is the youngest person to be accepted into that doctor's program and-

"AH APRIL JUST SHUT UP!" Meredith screamed as she found her way into an on call room and slammed the door in April's face.

"So we'll talk later?" April asked.

* * *

The crowd standed there watching as Bailey emerged from the water with Ellis cradled in his arms.

"She's so cold and her face is...blue!" Bailey said panic-stricken. "She's unconscious, and I'm not sure if she's breathing!"

He laid her gently down on the concertate next to the pool. Bailey grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. "She has weak pulse…" He muttered. When everyone was continued to stand there and stare Bailey yelled. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! CALL 911! SOMEBODY CALL 911! He then began to perform CPR on his little sister. Something he never thought he would have to do.

* * *

"You look like hell." Alex laughed halfheartedly at Meredith.

"Thanks I know." He managed to get a small smile out of Meredith.

"Hey, I'm just glad they found Ellis!"

"Me too! She is so grounded though…wait should I ground her? Or... should we have a talk? Or... what should I do?"

"Are you stupid!? Do you want your daughter to run away again!?"

"NO! Why would you even ask me a question like that!?"

"Because that's what she will do if you ground her!"

"Oh...hm I mean... I still have some time to think of a punishment…"

"Don't punish her she has already been through enough today…"

"Maybe you're right…" Meredith sighed as her pager went off.

 _ER 911_

"Alex, I gotta go I'm being paged to the ER, 911, plus my children should be here any minute."

"Okay call me later, and let me know how Ellis is doing."

"I will!" She hung up the facetime and put her phone in her lab coat pocket rushed toward the ER.

A stretcher came in with two paramedics on each side.

"What do we got?" April Kepner asked the paramedics.

"Jane Doe, looks about 15, hypothermic, drowning." One of them replied.

"Not Jane Doe! That's my sister Ellis Shepherd!" Bailey countered as he and Zola jumped out of the ambulance and ran in through the hospitals sliding doors, and headed to trauma room 3.

"WHAT?" April shouted. "Wh-what happened? Where's Harriet?" she turned her head quickly to see if her she was here.

"Harriet's fine she's still at the party, and I think Ellis drowned…" Bailey said.

"Drowned!? But she can swim! Right?" April panicked.

"Yeah she can, so I'm not exactly sure how she drowned...unless…  
Zola gulped. "It was on purpose…"

"NO!" Bailey yelled. "She wouldn't do that!"

"Are you sure about that?" Zola questioned her brother.

"Yes! I mean no...maybe?" Bailey shrugged his shoulders.

Meredith entered the ER she saw Zola and Bailey exiting trauma room 3.

"Hey guys!" She smiled and breathed heavily from running. "Where's Ellis?"

Zola and Bailey exchanged a glance. "Sh-she's-" Bailey started.

"In the bathroom!" Zola finished his sentence.

"Okay! Well I'm going to check and see if they need me in the trauma room." She pointed to the room Ellis was in.

"No!" The two backed up against the door. "Y-you don't wanna go in there…" Bailey's voice was shaking.

"Why not?" Meredith gave her son a stern look and put her hands on her hips.

"I-It was so gross...like this girl had 5 bones sticking out of her body...it's definitely a job for ortho not general so…"

"So? That doesn't bother me. I'm a surgeon! Now let me get through the door! If I'm not needed we can all head home once Ellis comes back!" The pair did not move.

"Move!" Meredith stood her ground.

"No it's not a good idea…" Zola backed up her brother.

"Oh my gosh you two! I'm used to all this stuff! I've been doing it for years!" Meredith laughed half-hearty. Zola and Bailey didn't budge.

"MOVE!" Meredith didn't have time for their games. When they continued to stand their Meredith pushed her way around her children into the room. Nothing, not even her years of experience of being a surgeon would prepare her for this next moment.

 _There are no open wounds or bones sticking out...so why would Zola and Bailey not want me in here? Oh, aw, she's just a teenager with pink hair, she reminds me of me…_

Meredith stepped closer to the girl.

 _She looks so familiar,maybe I had her as a patient before…?_

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, so she stepped a little bit closer.

"OH GOD!" Meredith screamed and looked up toward heaven. She covered her mouth with her hand and tears began to fall down her cheeks. The other doctors hadn't noticed that Meredith had entered the room until she screamed.

"Oh Meredith…" April said.

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is…please tell me…"

"Meredith, you really shouldn't be in here…" Owen stated the obvious.

"TELL ME THAT'S NOT ELLIS! PLEASE!" Her tears began to fall faster. "IS THAT MY DAUGHTER?"

Owen and April turned toward Meredith and nodded slightly and returned back to Ellis.

"We need to start a central line...her 20 gauge IV blew!" April instructed an intern.

Meredith stood their staring at her daughter's blue lifeless face, while the doctors worked on keeping her alive.

"She almost drowned didn't she…?" Surprisingly, Meredith voice was quiet and calm.

"Yes." Owen nodded.

Meredith continued to stare in shock at her daughter. _How could have this happened? Ellis can swim..._

She lost her train of thought when Ellis flatlined.

"NO! NO! ELLIS!" She ran up to the side of the bed and grabbed Ellis' hand."YOU DON'T GET TO DIE ON ME!" Meredith tried to fight her tears but failed miserably.

"Alright somebody get her out of here!" Owen shouted and two nurses escorted Meredith out of the trauma room.

 **So what did you think? Thanks again for all the reads, follows, favorites and reviews they mean so much to me! As usual if there any mistakes please let me know so I can fix them ASAP! Love y'all! -Lucie**


	11. Chapter 11

**OH MY GOSH IM SOOO SOOO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT SCHOOL SUCKS AND I CAN'T UPDATE AS MUCH AS I WANT TO! here's chapter 11 and i hope it was worth the wait...**

As soon as Meredith was escorted out of the trauma room she started to shake from side to side. "Let go of me!" She barked at the nurses, and they quickly let go and went back into Ellis' room. Meredith spotted her two eldest children sitting on a bed in the ER across from the trauma room Ellis was in. She looked at them with her sad eyes walked slowly over toward them.

"M-" Zola was trying to ask her mother a question, but was unable to get her attention.

"Guys-" Meredith choked out. I-I need you to...go wait in the waiting room-y-you can't be in here..." A few hot tears rolled down her face. "I-I'm going to go change out of my scrubs-and I'll meet you in there." She turned around and starting walking toward the attending lounge.

* * *

"Mom...Mom?" Zola tried to get her mother's attention again.

Meredith bit her lip as a few more tears rolled down her cheek.

"Yes, Zola?" She tried to keep calm and wiped her tears quickly, then she turned to face her children.

"Is Ellis okay in there? W-we heard you screaming and-"

"No Zola, Ellis is not okay. That's why I need you both to go to the waiting room...now...please." With that two children stood up and made their way to the waiting room and Meredith to the attendings lounge.

Ellis slowly opened her eyes. She was in an unfamiliar room where she had never been before.

"Hiya!" A wide eyed smiley little girl stood over Ellis.

"AH!" Ellis sat up quickly. "W-wh-who are you?" She stammered.

"I'm Carolyn! Nice to meet you!" She stuck her hand out toward Ellis. She reluctantly shook the girl's hand. "What's your name?"

"My name is Ellis…" She did not make eye contact with Carolyn. She was too busy looking around the room trying to figure out where she was.

Carolyn started talking again, but Ellis ignored her.

After a couple of minutes Carolyn realized that Ellis wasn't looking at her. "Are you even listening to me?" She questioned Ellis who snapped out of her trance.

"Um..uh..sorry. Can you please tell me where I am?"

"Oh! That's why you're not listening? I probably should have told you this first, but I didn't want to freak you out, but since you're asking…"

"You're dead." A boy said bluntly.

"Samuel!" Carolyn barked. "You needed to let me tell her! I found her first!"

"Wait- I'm dead? There's no way I'm dead. It's got to be a brain thing, or a really bad dream. This is a really bad dream...that's all it is...right?" Ellis said.

"Nope. You're dead." Samuel stated.

"Hey! I wanted to take it easy on her and that was not easy!" Carolyn scolded.

"Remember being pushed in the pool the second time, and you hit your head?" Samuel asked.

"Yeah, that sucked." Ellis replied.

"You died and all you have to say is that sucked!?"

"Yeah, because I'M NOT DEAD! Because if I were the first person I would want to see is my dad, and I'm pretty sure neither of you are him, and...I'm no doctor, but you can't die from just hitting your head."

"Well you did! No sense arguing with me."

"Whatever." Ellis rolled her eyes. "This is just a nasty dream and when I wake up I'll be at home in my bed. So nice meeting you two!" She grabbed the sheets and covered herself in them and closed her eyes and faced away from them and drifted asleep.

* * *

April looked at Owen. "Dr. Hunt, I know the hypothermia is protecting her vital organs, but I'm not sure how much longer we can go like this…"

"Dr. Kepner are you in charge of the ER tonight?"

"No b-"

"We need to save her! This is Meredith Grey's little girl she will kill us if we don't do everything in our power to save her! I have seen many people stay four hours like this, and it has only been about twenty minutes." Owen said as he looked at his watch.

"I understand but-"

"But nothing April! If this were Harriet wouldn't you want us to do everything we can to save her?"

"Yes."

"Then imagine this is her so we can get the job done or get out!"

April just nodded her head.

"Her body temperature is 86 degree right now, and she is not dead until she's at 98.6 degrees, when she is back to the normal body temperature we can start her heart. Everybody got it?"

"Yes sir!" Said the rest of the doctors in the room.

"Good, let's save her life!

* * *

Ellis woke up from her sleep to hear two people whispering. She continued to face the other way with her eyes closed afraid of where she was at.

"When do you think she's gonna realize this isn't a dream? It's real it's death. It's all over!"

"You have to give her some time! You can't just expect her to be all happy that she's dead!"

"I mean-I was happy."

"You were a baby when you died! You didn't know anything!"

"So were you!"

"I didn't say anything! And you hurt your parents! How can you be happy about that?"

"I was suffering my bones were breaking! I had a disease that made me suffer! I was glad I didn't have to live like that!"

"Well at least _you_ lived!

"I didn't even live for a day, so shut your mouth!"

"You both need to shut your mouth!" A boy hissed as he walked into the room. "She is trying to sleep over there!" He pointed toward Ellis. "She is trying to wrap her head around this whole situation that has just happened to her! So leave her alone for a little and when she's ready to talk she will!

"Fine…"

Samuel and Carolyn sighed in unison and started to walk toward the door. Then they turned toward each other "This argument isn't over yet! Jinx! Double jinx!" Then their voices disappeared into the distance.

"Hey." The boy whispered. "I know you are awake they are gone now."

Ellis sat up and sighed. "I'm still here? I really thought I was dreaming…"

"Yeah sorry about that...I might be able to help you though...as long as it's not too late…"

"Not too late? You mean you can get me out of here!?"

"Maybe…"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Ellis jumped out of the bed. "Get me out of here!"

* * *

Dr. Bailey bursted through the doors of trauma room three.

"What the hell is going on in here that we need two attendings, three residents, and two interns in here for!? We have more incoming traumas and-" She stopped as she noticed the face of the girl. "IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS!?" She shouted.

"Dammit!" Bailey shook her head as she noticed Ellis was still flatlining. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING HERE FOR Y'ALL NEED TO SAVE HER LIFE!"

"Dr. Bailey, what do you think we are trying to do?!" Owen yelled back.

"Well y'all aren't doing a very good job of it are you?!"

"We are trying, Miranda." Owen argued. "Tell her, April."

"We really are its-its just um…this is a strange case...and the poor girl is practically dead and-"

"I don't want to hear another word!" She stepped into the room then shoved Owen and April out of the way. "You… Uh… intern!" She said, snapping her fingers and pointing at a short, jittery girl who was holding a clipboard and taking notes.

The girl's head snapped up and she jumped. "Uh… Peterson! Sir!"

"I am going to pretend I didn't just hear you call me sir, Dr. Peterson… Now hand me a 36-40 lavage tube! We have to do gastric lavage with warm fluids immediately!"

The girl stood there for a moment staring at Dr. Bailey with a petrified look on her face.

"GO! NOW!" Dr. Bailey yelled.

Dr. Peterson ran off.

"Now where was I…" Dr. Bailey asked.

* * *

Zola and Bailey were waiting impatiently for their mother to come join them and give them an explanation of what is going on with their sister. They felt like they had been waiting an unusually long amount of time.

"Maybe we should go look for her…" Bailey suggested.

"I think we should wait…she should be here any minute." The two sat in silence for a few moments.

"Um…" Bailey broke the silence. "Where's Harriet?"

"Oh my gosh!" Zola gasped.

"What?" Bailey raised his eyebrows.

"We forgot about Harriet!" Text her! Make sure she is still at the party! What if someone gave her drugs and then kidnapped her! Or if-"

Bailey grabbed Zola. "Calm down you're overreacting I'm sure she's just fine, but I will text her just so you know she is safe…" He pulled out his phone and began to text her.

Bailey: Hey Harriet u still at the party? Zola is being paranoid.

Harriet: Yah...y? Is everything ok?

Bailey looked up from his phone as soon as he got the message from Harriet.

"I told you she's fine!"

"I was just taking precautions! Can't be too safe!" Zola smiled and then sighed remembering the real reason why she was being so overprotective.

Harriet: ? everything ok? have u seen Ellis at all? She's not answering my txts or calls

"Oh no…" Bailey breathed

"What is it?" Zola asked

"She just asked about Ellis…how do I just say oh by the way she's not answering your messages because she drowned and is unconscious at the moment..." Bailey was about to text Harriet something when their mother appeared.

"Mom!" Bailey shoved his phone underneath his leg.

The two of them looked at their mom.

Her eyes and face were red and there were still a few tears rolling down her face. She quickly wiped them.

"Mom…" Zola stood up "whats wrong? I mean like with Ellis...you didn't tell us why you were screaming…"

"Please tell us…" Bailey added.

"Hello? Helloooooo? Bailey I know you're there! Wait is this a booty call?" Harriet's voice rose from the phone underneath Bailey's leg. "Bailey I don't like talking to your butt! Bailey's butt can you hand the phone to Bailey's hand so Bailey can use his EAR to listen to me?"

Meredith took a deep breath.

"Ellis is flatlining…" she whispered

"What!?" The two stood up and screamed and everyone in the waiting room started to stare at them.

All the sudden you heard a screaming voice from Harriet on the phone.

"WHAT!? DID YOU JUST SAY ELLIS IS FLATLINING!? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"

"Oh shoot…" Bailey looked over to the seat and saw it was on a call with Harriet. He quickly picked up the phone. "How much of that did you hear…"

"All of it! Now you tell me what is going on right now!"

"Bailey started to explain the situation."

"WHY IN THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS! I-I COULD BE THERE WITH YOU RIGHT NOW! Where are you? I'm coming!"

"We are at Grey-Sloan...and I-I'm sorry I didn't know how to tell you...I was going to...I was planning on it." Bailey stammered.

Zola slapped the phone away from him. "Don't tell her where we are we don't need any more chaos than there already is!"

"I can hear you Zola! Well… At least it's better than Bailey's butt…I'm coming up now DON'T MOVE." And with that Harriet hung up the phone.

"Good job Bailey!" Zola snapped.

"Well it's too late now. Maybe Harriet will be able to wake Ellis up..." He said as he eyed his mom who was now sitting in a chair still crying hysterically.

"Mom...mom…" Zola rubbed her moms back. "She'll wake up from this...she has too…What's her body temperature?" Meredith had her head buried in her lap with her hands covering her face she lifted her head up just for a moment and stared into space not looking at Zola and said,

"I-it was 86.7 I think-I can't re-remember."

"Th-that's good then mom! It means when her body temperature is back to normal she can still wake up!"

Meredith looked up again, but this time at Zola. "Y-you know the possibility of her waking up perfectly fine with no brain damage it would be a miracle." Meredith then continued to cry.

"Ugh!" Bailey stood up. "I can't take this anymore, mom there is nothing we can do about the situation now! We have done everything we can at the moment now all we can do is sit and wait and maybe say a prayer or two! So please stop your crying and see what happens. She's not dead until her body temperature reaches 98.6 degrees. Her turned to Zola. "By the way, genius, I did learn something in school." He turned back to Meredith. "I'm going to go get some coffee." He started to walk away when Zola stood up.

"I'll come with you! Do you want anything mom?" Meredith simply shook her head.

 **Hi y'all! and thanks for reading! I brought Samuel in! :) Where is Ellis at? and who is Carolyn and the mystery boy? thanks for your reads, follows, favorites and reviews! I REALLY APPRECIATE THEM (so if you have a few mins you could leave one I would be very happy!) I only got one last time and I would like more because it tells me if you are enjoying it or not and helps me to stay motivated to write more! love y'all and until my next update,**

 **luciebean 3**


	12. Chapter 12

****this chapter has not changed. I just had to make a quick edit :)****

"Where are you taking me?" Ellis asked the boy as they continued to walk through empty dark hallways.

"I'm trying to find my dad…" He said.

"Your dad? I thought you were getting me out of here?" She gave a snarky reply.

"That's what I'm doing Miss Know-It-All. He told me a story about a someone like yourself escaped the fate of the death in these very hallways. I can't remember which hallway it was…"

"How would he kn-"

"Sh!"

"What?"

"Shhhhhhhhh! I hear someone!"

"Hey guys!" Carolyn skipped down the hallway.

"Oh it's you." the boy rolled his eyes.

"Who else would it be?" She smiled wide.

"I don't know...I was hoping that you might be my dad."

"Christopher, you know your dad doesn't hang around this area anymore, so why would be he be over here? Anyway! Are you giving Ellis a tour? You are going to love it here! This is only the beginning! There is this other part-"

"Carolyn!"

"What?"

"She's not "technically" dead yet so she can't go to that part" Christopher used air quotes.

"What do you mean another part?"

"The light..." Carolyn and Christopher said in unison.

"The light?" Ellis questioned and Christopher sighed.

"When someone dies they come here, and angels are sent down from Heaven to help them cross over into the light or get back to Earth. That is why this place is so empty. "The guy in the light sends angels to help people cross over! That is why everyone you expected to see is not here...they are in the light. I-"

"Hold on." Ellis interrupted. "Who is the guy in the light?"

Christopher shrugged. "Some people call him the Heavenly father or whatever. I just go by God. That is all I can say… Anyways, since I was so rudely interrupted by you, I was hoping my dad was called to come here and help you find the path back to Earth..."

"Maybe there isn't one special hallway where they cross back over..." Samuel's voice came from around the corner. Ellis, Carolyn, and Christopher cocked their heads in confusion. "There is only one explanation I can think of...you're not ready to go back."

Harriet stormed into the waiting room to find Zola and Bailey sipping on their coffee. "WHY? WHY?" she covered her face with her hands in frustration. "Why didn't you tell me? She's my best friend I think I deserve to know what is going on! I should NOT have found this out through one of Bailey's booty calls!"

The man that was sitting near the pair was also drinking coffee hastily spit it out surprised by what just came out of her mouth. Zola and Bailey stared at Harriet awkwardly eyes wide.

"What?" Harriet put her hands on her hips and glared at them.

"I understand you are frustrated Harriet, but you have to understand our point of view…" Zola put a hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down.

"I don't understand your point of view." Harriet shook Zola's hand off of her shoulder. "Yeah I might have freaked out and cried, but at least I would be here waiting with you and praying that she will wake up and get through this."

"Harriet! It's over it's done with we can't go back in time. You can stay and wait with us for an update if you would like, but I don't wanna see you crying. I got enough of that from my mother today. Speaking of which...where is mom?" Bailey turned to Zola and she shrugged.

"She wasn't here when we got back from getting our coffee. So, I'm guessing she is still there." Zola and Harriet sat down in the waiting room chairs each next to Bailey.

"Is this my fault?" Harriet turned and looked at Bailey with teary eyes.

"No, why would you think that?" He turned his head and looked directly at Harriet. Before she could speak Bailey started talking again. "I told you no crying!"

"I'm sorry." She wiped a tear. "I can't help but blame myself…"

"Why would you blame yourself? It's not like your the one who made her drown." Bailey chuckled for a second and noticed Harriet was not laughing. "Right?" Now Bailey eyes started to fill with tears at the thought of his sister's best friend drowning her.

"I-I don't know if it is my fault!" Harriet's lip quivered and Bailey stood up and started to yell,

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN HARRIET! YOU EITHER DID OR YOU DIDN'T." He then clenched his teeth. "Tell me what _exactly_ happened tonight."

Meanwhile in trauma room number three Ellis still had no heartbeat.

"Think outside the box people! She is still flatlining!" Dr. Bailey ordered.

An intern raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Wh-what about a cardiopulmonary bypass? We can do it in here if we page cardio."

"Excellent idea Dr. Peterson, if you can find Dr. Pierce, a surgical team, and if you stop sounding like you have seen a ghost I will let you assist."

"Really?" the intern smiled.

"Yes, now go before I change my mind! RUN!" Bailey snapped and then Dr. Peterson ran out the trauma room door.

Meredith was sitting in her office with the lights off and the door locked. She was hiding from everyone and anyone, even her children. Not even the chief of surgery knew where she was. All Meredith knew is she would be paged if there were an updates regarding her daughter.

Meredith looked up and whispered, "Derek, Derek, if you can hear me don't let Ellis die. I don't know what you have to do to with that or what power you have, but if have any control, please I'm begging I need my-our little girl back…" She quickly wiped a tear as she noticed the ferry boat scrub cap laying on her desk.

 _Flashback_

"Where is it? Where is it?" Meredith was panicking. Her scrub cap was not in the usual spot in the drawer on top of the post it. She was throwing things out of her drawer left and right trying to find it.

"Woah Meredith, what's going on?" Maggie asked her sister.

"Derek's scrub cap! I-I can't find it!"

"Calm down, maybe you put it in the wash and it's downstairs? Or you left it in your office? Or-?"

"No! I specifically remember bringing it home and putting it in my drawer last night before I went to bed."

"Okay then...um...let's look through the drawer some more and maybe clean up all these clothes you threw everywhere. It might be stuck to one of them."

"Maggie it's not here! I'm going to go check the couch.."

"Wait-your room is still a mess"

"I'll pick it up later! I need that scrub cap!"

"You don't even work today!" Maggie shouted down the stairs.

"I don't care, I still need it!" Meredith threw the cushions off the couch.

Maggie and Meredith tore the house apart piece by piece for hours looking for the ferry boat scrub cap.

"There's no use…" Meredith plopped a seat on the ground. It-it's-" She started to tear up a bit.

"Don't finish that sentence. It's not gone until we have looked everywhere for it!"

"Gone…" she sighed. Maggie was about to speak when the front door opened.

"Woah. What happened in here?" Alex asked with his eyes wide as Zola ran through the door and ran up the stairs as Bailey followed;not even noticing the mess in the living room. Meredith was going to answer Alex's question when she heard Ellis yell.

"Mommy!"

Meredith stood up and Alex turned around just in time to catch Ellis who tripped over the step leading into the house. He picked her up and swung her around and set her down on the ground facing Meredith. Alex lifted up what was covering the little girl's eyes. "I can see!" She smiled.

As soon as Meredith saw the ferry boat scrub cap on Ellis' small head she yelled her daughter's name, "ELLIS!" she wanted to yell more, but she stopped herself seeing the fear in youngest child's eyes. "She ran up and picked up her daughter. "Where did you get this from?" Meredith smiled as she gently took the scrub cap off of Ellis. "I found it, in your dresser when I was looking for something for show and tell day!"

"How did you reach the top drawer?"

"I grabbed my stool from the bathroom."

"Next time, can you let me know before you take something from my room? This scrub cap is very special."

"Okay mommy." Ellis smiled and Meredith set her back on the ground.

"What makes it special?" Ellis cocked her head sideways. "I see a lot of doctors wearing them, can't you get another one?"

"I could, but I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because it belonged to your dad it was his, and I wear it to honor him and remember him."

"Oh…" Ellis looked at the ground. Are you mad mommy?"

"No honey, I'm not mad." She knelt down and hugged her little girl, when Ellis let go Meredith got an idea.

"If you want a scrub cap, I have a purple one you can have I don't wear it anymore."

"Really?" Ellis smiled wide.

"Really."

"Thank you mommy!" Ellis hugged her mom one last time. "I love you."

"I love you too."

 _End of Flashback_

Meredith continued to sit there in the dark. Remembering all the times Ellis wore the purple scrub cap. On Halloween, hat day at school, and when playing doctor. One day, Ellis stopped wearing it. Meredith couldn't understand why. She could never get it out of her.

 _Ever since Ellis stopped wearing the purple scrub cap…she hasn't been the same smiley girl she used to be...she went all...dark and twisty..._ Meredith thought.

"Oh shit!" Meredith said out loud and blotted out of her office as she realized what had happened to her daughter.


	13. Chapter 13

****a part of this chapter has been altered slightly****

"Dr. Hunt, can we try pushing another epi?" asked Dr. Bailey.

"We have been pushing epi for an hour and a half. How about check another lead?"

"Asystole at three liters, Dr. Bailey." Owen replied.

Suddenly, Meredith burst into the trauma room.

"Meredith you can't be in here…" April whispered, "Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?" She noticed Meredith's heavy breathing.

"No." She breathed. "I'm...fine"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure! I just figured out what happened to Ellis."

"Um, Meredith, not to be rude, but we figured it out awhile ago when she got here…" Dr. Hunt spoke.

"No, I mean I know she did this on purpose. She did exactly what I did in Elliot Bay, except in a pool. So there has to hope right? I came back! April you came back!"

"Yeah, but I was in a different situation…" April's voice trailed off.

"Shut up!" Meredith snapped, "But still, she has to come back!" She stared at her daughter's still lifeless face. "She has too!"

"Meredith, this doesn't look good, you really need to prepare yourself and your children and Harriet…"

"No! Don't say that!"

"She's been down two hours and we have almost done everything we can."

"Stop! No! I was down longer than that!" Meredith bit lip hesitant to ask the next question. "What is her body temperature?"

"89." Dr. Peterson answered.

"There is still time! You better not give up! OR I'LL NEVER FORGIVE ANY OF YOU!" With that she stormed out of the trauma room and slammed the door. The whole room shook.

"We need to figure something else out…" Dr. Peterson chimed in.

"Yes! Thank you captain obvious!" April snarked. She was really worried about Ellis and Meredith being mad at her for the rest of her life.

"Any ideas?" Owen inquired.

Dr. Peterson raised her hand.

"Yes, Kelly?"

"What if we pushed another epi?" She asked.

"It doesn't hurt to try!" Dr. Bailey added in, "And Dr. Peterson?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"In an emergency WE DON'T RAISE OUR HANDS! We speak out! Use your damn voice you got one, you might as well use it!"

"What do you mean I don't wanna go back?" Ellis retorted.

"There are two possibilities…" Christopher replied.

"First, you're missing something." Samuel said.

"Missing what?"

"The importance of living!"

Ellis laughed. "The importance of living! The importance of living? You have got to be kidding me!"

"Ellis! This isn't funny anymore!" Carolyn cried. "Any of us would kill to be on Earth! You're being selfish! I-I" She stammered, "I was a miscarriage, the day my mom found out about me, she lost me! She didn't even get to tell my dad! And I'm the reason my mom gave up hope on having biological children. I mean she did eventually, but it-it's not fair!" Carolyn began sobbing.

The two boys began comforting Carolyn rubbing her back.

"Hey it's okay, your dad is here with you now remember?" Samuel smiled.

"Daddy," she cried out and then disappeared.

"Look what you've done! We have lost our only positivity!" Samuel scowled and looked at Ellis who was zoned out.

"Ellis?" Christopher walked over to her. "Hey you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine...so what happened to you two?"

"I was born with a disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta. I had type two which is the most severe. My bones were breaking inside my mom, so I was born early. I died in her arms, and my parents divorced because of my death…" Samuel sighed.

The three of them were silent for a moment before Christopher started to tell his story.

"I was anencephalic, I was born with no brain. I believe it was due to the fact that my mother and father were druggies. My mom did a lot of drugs, but I don't blame her for what happened. Because even if she never did drugs I still could have been born without a brain. I lived for 43 minutes and my mother gave me the name-"

"Unicorn." Samuel snorted and began to laugh.

"Unicorn?" Ellis questioned.

"Nevermind. My mother gave me the name-" Christopher was cut off again by Samuel.

"Unicorn." He started rolling on the floor laughing and then disappeared.

"Since he's gone let me finish, my mother named me Christopher, after father who was shot when she was five. It's also her brother's middle name. When I arrived, I was greeted by my dad and he told me my name since my mom never said it...she only called me her unicorn baby.

"That's so sweet...I'm sorry about your mother." Ellis sympathized.

"Me too…" Christopher sighed. "Now, let me go find the other two. We need to talk about your story."

Meredith slowly walked to the waiting room ready to tell the children what Bailey had told her to. She really did not want to do this since all of their hopes have been high all evening that Ellis would make it. Once she arrived she found them fast asleep laying on one another's shoulders. As soon as Meredith took a seat her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket. It was Alex.

Alex: Hey Mer, how's Ellis doing? Did you take her out for some ice cream?

Meredith read the text, but did not know how to respond. She had completely forgotten to tell Alex. For she other things were on her mind. _How do I tell him? How?_ Meredith thought. Then her phone buzzed again.

Alex: Mer? I know you are probably having fun with Ellis, but I just want to know.

She sat and stared at the message still thinking of what to say.

Alex: Don't make me call you.

Meredith sighed and started typing.

Mer: Please don't the kids are sleeping

Alex: What are you doing? Watching them sleep?

Mer: Kinda…

Meredith's phone started to vibrate and she picked it up not looking at the caller id, but she knew who it was.

What do you want Alex? I told you the kids are sleeping" Meredith hissed.

"Mer what is going on? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's...fine." She bit her lip, held back her tears and tried to be quiet, but evidently she wasn't quiet enough.

"No, everything's not fine." Bailey grumbled as he stretched from falling asleep on Harriet.

"Who said that? What is going on? Is that an ambulance I hear? Meredith tell me what is going on right now." Alex said seriously, while holding back tears.

"Ellis...drowned...at a party…s-sh-she's dying." Meredith choked out. "We need to…" She gulped, "prepare ourselves." Tears began running down her cheeks. "You should come as soon as possible...I-I need you."

"I'm coming Meredith, right now."

* * *

 **OMZ I'm so sorry I've been gone for a million years. I have exams in 2 or 3 weeks and then I will update with Chapter 14! So sorry for the wait! Also, as you can see I had to change RJ to Christopher because that is his actual name! :) Thanks for sticking by me, I really appreciate it!**

 **-Lucie**


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm so sorry. I'm really embarrassed. I wrote part of it awhile ago, but I needed more to make it a chapter and I just got an idea today. I should say I sorta had writers block...a year worth of it...eh kinda...it's hard to explain...ANYWAY...hope this was worth a year wait, if you're still with me. I really appreciate it! There is also a small summery inside the story if you forgot what happened...**

* * *

"What do you mean talk about my story? I don't have a story! I'm just a dead girl who drowned on her own stupidity!" Ellis barked as she and Christopher walked the empty halls of the afterlife. Suddenly Christopher stopped walking and turned toward Ellis.

"On your own stupidity? You were pushed, hit your head on the side of the pool, which knocked you unconscious, causing you to drown. So, no, this was not your fault."

"I got into a fight with that stupid girl! If I didn't get into that fight I wouldn't be here, so yes, it's my fault!

"How is that your fault? She's the one that pushed you!"

"I started it!"

"So?"

"So, it's still my fault!" Christopher opened up his mouth to say something but was cut off.

"Would you two just shut up!?" Samuel interrupted.

"Wh-wh where did you come from?" Ellis stammered, and Samuel pointed to the open door behind where the two were arguing.

"I was taking a nap, and you two idiots are standing here arguing over something stupid." Samuel rolled his eyes, "Christopher, it was both of their faults! Ellis started the fight, but the other girl pushed her! Anyway, who cares about who's fault it is! It is over and done with. This isn't life or death situation!" There was a silent pause, "Oh wait it is." Samuel snickered. Ellis sighed.

"Not funny Samuel!" Christopher gave him a stern look.

"Can we just work on getting me out of here?" Ellis changed the subject.

"You have to tell us what's bothering you, and how you ended up here. It is the only way. Also, if you don't tell us soon you will be joining us in the light…"

"Fine." Ellis reluctantly agreed. "But first, where's Carolyn?"

"Right here!" Carolyn smiled as she peaked out the same door Samuel came out of.

"Um-you too weren't uh…you know?" Ellis questioned.

"Sleeping in the same bed? Oh no! That's weird! I took the top bunk and Samuel took the bottom!" Ellis sighed with relief.

"Now you said you were going to share your story? How did you end up in the pool in the first place?" Carolyn hugged her teddy bear and Samuel took a bite of popcorn.

"Well, it all started the day my Uncle Alex told me he was moving to Boston…He is such a great man he has always been there for me. Whether it was taking me to the daddy daughter dance, supporting me at science fairs, or cheering me on at my dance recitals. My mother is very unreliable, so I knew I always had him to count on. This morning was my inductee ceremony into the future doctors program at my school. Alex was supposed to walk with me across the stage. Since he left a couple weeks ago, he couldn't be there, so my mom took his place. Or should I say was supposed to take his place. Long story short, she never showed up when she promised she would."

"Oh no! That's terrible!" Carolyn hugged her teddy bear tighter. "What happened next?"

"Well, she eventually showed up, but it was too late. The ceremony was over with and I had to walk on stage by myself. I was so furious when she showed up I yelled at her and told her I hated her and that she was a terrible mother. I-I didn't mean it…I was just so upset…" Ellis frowned.

"This doesn't explain how you ended up in the pool." Samuel said flatly.

"Sh! She's getting there! Just let her talk." Christopher replied.

"After that, I ran all the way home. Then I packed a bag, got into a fight with my brother and sister, threw a glass picture frame at my sister and ran outside." All three children's mouths were wide open. "There, my friend's mom picked me up and we went back to her house. From there, we got dressed and ready for the party. When we arrived at the party everything was great until I walked outside to the pool when…when…" Ellis bit her lip and a tear rolled down her cheek as she was remembering the details. "When this girl started talking crap about my dad…" She gulped. "She said my dad left my mom before I was born because he didn't want me…" Tears continued to fall down Ellis' cheeks. "I know he wanted me or else I wouldn't exist…H-he died, and I never got to meet him. My dad did not walk out on my mom. Th-there was an accident…" Ellis wiped her face with her sleeve. "After, she told me my mother doesn't care about me. That was the last straw, I got angry and tried to start a fight. Instead of fighting back she pushed me into the pool…twice. The first time I was okay, but the second time…m-my head hit the side of the pool. I remember the sting of hitting it and the pain, but that's it. I don't know what happened after that…" Ellis buried her head in her hands and began to sob.

* * *

"How many epi's has that been?" April asked Owen.

"Six…" He replied. "Peterson, what is the external body temp?"

"98."

"So she's warm."

"Yes."

"And dead…" Dr. Bailey mumbled.

"V-fib! It looks like V-fib!" April called out.

"Charge to 300!" Owen instructed.

"Clear!"

* * *

Meredith was pacing the entrance to the emergency room and constantly checking her phone waiting for Alex to text her. She wanted to make sure that he landed safely at the airport. _He should have texted me by now…_ When Meredith began to worry, she started to think about the worst possible situations.  
 _What if the plane crashed? What if he was injured?_ How could she get through one of the roughest times in her life without her person? Meredith knew she needed support this time because when Derek died she had no one and it almost killed her.

"Mer!" Alex ran through the emergency doors and gave her a hug.

"Alex!" Meredith returned the hug. "Why didn't you text me when you landed?"

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to get here as quickly as possible. Where is she?"

Meredith bit her lip and a few tears slide down her cheek as she pointed to trauma room three.

"Hey, Mer, it's okay." Alex grabbed a hold of her arm and they sat down together on a bed. "Ellis is strong, she will make it out."

"What if she wakes up and is brain dead or a vegetable? She's been on bypass for over an hour now! You know that's not good for anyone, especially a teenager!" Meredith cried.

"You need to have a little faith. You made it out fine after you drowned, so there's hope she will too." She laid her head on Alex's shoulder.

"I sure hope you are right because if not..." Meredith gulped. "I'll never forgive myself...this is all my fault!" She began to cry. "I'm the reason she drowned herself at that stupid party that I didn't even know she was at!"

"What are you talking about? Ellis didn't drown herself."

"Yes she did Alex! She did the same thing as me!"

"Well she at least didn't do it on purpose."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Meredith stood up.

"I talked to Bailey, Zola, and Harriet and they told me she was pushed into the pool. Then-"

"I know she was pushed into the pool Alex! Then she quit fighting and let herself drown. I know the story because I did the same thing!"

"Meredith, you don't know the whole story!"

"Yes I do Alex, would you stop fighting me on it?"

"Because if you'd let me finish earlier, I would have told you that I talked to Dr. Bailey, Hunt, and Kepner. There is a small bump on her left side of her head consistent with an injury caused by getting hit with a hard object. So either one of two things happened; A: She was hit with an object with such force she passed out and fell into the pool, or B: she smacked her head on the side of the pool when she was pushed in causing her to pass out! So, no, this is not your fault! Now stop blaming yourself! Mer, she only drowned because no one noticed she'd disappeared." Meredith began to cry. This was a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. Ellis didn't drown herself because she was angry. It was just a freak accident. She only hoped and prayed her little girl would be alright.

* * *

 **Again, I'm super sorry about the wait! Feel free to leave a review, follow or favorite! Also, let me know if there are any mistakes so I can finish them ASAP!**

 **PS: The story is almost done probably one or two more chapters! :)**

 **-Lucie**


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